1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accelerometer and more specifically to an accelerometer for use in an automotive vehicle or the like and which exhibits an arrangement whereby temperature compensation can be effected without the need of a temperature sensor and associated complex circuitry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to control modern suspensions and the like type of automotive apparatus in a manner which ensures safe stable operation it is necessary to sense the level of acceleration that the vehicle is being subject to in vertical (up and down) and lateral (left and right) directions as well as the direction (fore-aft)in which the vehicle is travelling. To accomplish this it is known to use one or more accelerometers of the type disclosed in Japanese Provisional Pat. Publication No. 52-49871. The device disclosed in this document includes a permanent magnet which is suspended in a manner that it can be displaced in one of the above mentioned vertical, lateral or for- aft directions of the vehicle; and a Hall-effect Hall IC which disposed proximate the magnet in a manner to be responsive to the movement thereof.
However, the arrangement while being simple has suffered from the drawback that the Hall IC is suseptible to temperature variation in a manner that the level of output thereof varies unacceptably. In order to compensate for this it has been proposed to include a temperature sensor arrangement in the IC which corrects the output level. However this not only complicates the circuitry but increases the size, weight and cost of the device.